1st Edition
The Abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate, 1924 Debates and Implications
This book explores the decision by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in 1924 to abolish the caliphate. The Ottoman sultans had long borne the title of caliphs of Islam, with all the prestigious authority throughout the Muslim world that went with it, and in the aftermath of the First World War the caliphate still retained great symbolic relevance.The book considers the questions that arose with its abolition, including whether or not the caliphate should be revived, reformed or replaced by other forms of political affiliation and organization. It also assesses more general issues concerning identity and legitimate authority, and how to reconcile time-honoured religious institutions and concepts with modernity, the nation-state and affiliations of an ethnic and religious nature. The book additionally addresses the debates within the pan-Islamic congresses concerning the fate of the caliphate, and the implications of its abolition for Kurdish–Turkish relations and for the British and French Empires with their large Muslim populations.
List of contributors vii
Abbreviations x
Introduction 1
ELISA GIUNCHI AND NICOLA MELIS
1 The Tradition of the Ottoman Caliphate and Its End 13
AZMI ÖZCAN
2 The Pamphlet Battle of Deputy Hocas: The Caliphate Versus the Grand National Assembly 26
YASEMIN TÜRKKAN TUNALI
3 The Caliphate Debates in Turkey and Beyond: Dissensus and Politicization 41
NURULLAH ARDIÇ
4 The Caliphate and Absent Authority 65
REZA PANKHURST
5 The Abolition of the Caliphate, Secularization and Kurdish Nationalism 78
MARTIN VAN BRUINESSEN
6 Pan-Islamism and Defence of the Ottoman Caliphate in Some Writings of Sulayma-n al-Baru-nı - 93
FEDERICO CRESTI
7 The Caliphate Congresses and the Ottoman Sultans 120
NICOLA MELIS
8 “The Spiritual Authority of the Caliph”: Unpacking British Policymaker’s Perceptions of Caliphal Authority and Its Implications for British Imperial Goals 151
SEAN OLIVER-DEE
9 Debating the Future of the French Colonial Empire on the Eve of the Ottoman Caliphate 168
FATIMA-EZZAHRAE TOUILILA
Index 181
Biography
Elisa Giunchi is a Professor at the University of Milan, Italy
Nicola Melis is an Associate Professor at the University of Cagliari, Italy
